House Bill Mandate on Nuclear Missile Silos Draws Opposition

A House bill’s man­date that all nuc­le­ar mis­sile silos be kept op­er­a­tion­al in­def­in­itely has drawn op­pos­i­tion from some Demo­crats, Politico Pro re­ports.

The Re­pub­lic­an-led House Armed Ser­vices Sub­com­mit­tee on Stra­tegic Forces in its Wed­nes­day mark-up and ap­prov­al of an­nu­al de­fense policy le­gis­la­tion in­cluded a re­quire­ment that the De­fense De­part­ment main­tain each of the silos cur­rently hous­ing a Minute­man 3 mis­sile at least in “warm” status re­gard­less of wheth­er the weapon at a later date is re­moved from the un­der­ground launch cham­ber.

In ac­cord­ance with the im­ple­ment­a­tion of the New START pact with Rus­sia, the Pentagon last month an­nounced that between now and 2018 it would with­draw and place in re­serve 54 of the in­ter­con­tin­ent­al bal­list­ic mis­siles but would keep their silos ready for po­ten­tial fu­ture us­age. The House bill pro­vi­sion ap­pears to go fur­ther than the Pentagon’s stated plan, though, by re­quir­ing that all of the ap­prox­im­ately 450 silos be kept op­er­a­tion­al in­def­in­itely.

“A con­gres­sion­al pro­vi­sion to in­def­in­itely pre­vent the re­duc­tion of mis­sile silos un­der­mines our mil­it­ary’s abil­ity to de­term­ine op­tim­al force struc­ture and ad­apt to our se­cur­ity needs,” U.S. Rep­res­ent­at­ive Lor­etta Sanc­hez (D-Cal­if.) was quoted by Politico Pro as say­ing. “It is only sens­ible that as we re­duce the num­ber of our nuc­le­ar weapons, we main­tain the abil­ity to ap­pro­pri­ately size our nuc­le­ar force struc­ture.”

Mi­chael Am­ato, a spokes­man for U.S. Rep­res­ent­at­ive Adam Smith (D-Wash.), said his boss thinks the mis­sile silo re­quire­ment would place “an un­ne­ces­sary and sig­ni­fic­ant fin­an­cial and stra­tegic bur­den” on the U.S. mil­it­ary.

Smith is the seni­or Demo­crat on the House Armed Ser­vices Com­mit­tee, and Sanc­hez sits on the pan­el’s Stra­tegic Forces Sub­com­mit­tee

Law­makers from the three states that host the Minute­man 3 ar­sen­al — Montana, North Dakota and Wyom­ing — have moved re­peatedly to block any ef­fort to re­duce the Minute­man 3 ar­sen­al.

President Obama has called for a "full review" of the hacking that took place during the 2016 election cycle, according to Obama counterterrorism and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco. Intelligence officials say it is highly likely that Russia was behind the hacking. The results are not necessarily going to be made public, but will be shared with members of Congress.

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AT ISSUE: BENEFITS FOR COAL MINERS

Manchin, Brown Holding Up Spending Bill

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are threatening to block the spending bill—and prevent the Senate from leaving town—"because it would not extend benefits for retired coal miners for a year or pay for their pension plans. The current version of the bill would extend health benefits for four months. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday afternoon moved to end debate on the continuing resolution to fund the government through April 28. But unless Senate Democrats relent, that vote cannot be held until Saturday at 1 a.m. at the earliest, one hour after the current funding measure expires."

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PARLIAMENT VOTED 234-56

South Korean President Impeached

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The South Korean parliament voted on Friday morning to impeach President Park Geun-hye over charges of corruption, claiming she allowed undue influence to a close confidante of hers. Ms. Park is now suspended as president for 180 days. South Korea's Constitutional Court will hear the case and decide whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment.

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CLOSED FOR INAUGURAL ACTIVITIES

NPS: Women’s March Can’t Use Lincoln Memorial

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Participants in the women's march on Washington the day after inauguration won't have access to the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service has "filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters."